Geography

Slightly smaller than Maine, Austria includes
much of the mountainous territory of the eastern Alps (about 75% of the
area). The country contains many snowfields, glaciers, and snowcapped
peaks, the highest being the Grossglockner (12,530 ft; 3,819 m). The
Danube is the principal river. Forests and woodlands cover about 40% of
the land.

Government

Federal republic.

History

Settled in prehistoric times, the central
European land that is now Austria was overrun in pre-Roman times by
various tribes, including the Celts. After the fall of the Roman Empire,
of which Austria was part, the area was invaded by Bavarians and Slavic
Avars. Charlemagne conquered the area in 788 and encouraged colonization
and Christianity. In 1252, Ottokar, king of Bohemia, gained possession,
only to lose the territories to Rudolf of Hapsburg in 1278. Thereafter,
until World War I, Austria's history was largely that of its ruling house,
the Hapsburgs. Austria emerged from the Congress of Vienna in 1815 as the
continent's dominant power. The
Ausgleich
of 1867 provided for a
dual sovereignty, the empire of Austria and the kingdom of Hungary, under
Franz Joseph I, who ruled until his death on Nov. 21, 1916. The
Austrian-Hungarian minority rule of this immensely diverse empire, which
included German, Czech, Romanian, Serbian, and many other lands, became
increasingly difficult in an age of emerging nationalist movements. When
Archduke Francis Ferdinand was assassinated by a Serbian nationalist in
Sarajevo in 1914, World War I, as well as the destruction of the
Austro-Hungarian Empire, began.

During World War I, Austria-Hungary was one of
the Central powers with Germany, Bulgaria, and Turkey, and the conflict
left the country in political chaos and economic ruin. Austria, shorn of
Hungary, was proclaimed a republic in 1918, and the monarchy was dissolved
in 1919. A parliamentary democracy was set up by the constitution of Nov.
10, 1920. To check the power of Nazis advocating union with Germany,
Chancellor Engelbert Dolfuss in 1933 established a dictatorship, but he
was assassinated by the Nazis on July 25, 1934. Kurt von Schuschnigg, his
successor, struggled to keep Austria independent, but on March 12, 1938,
German troops occupied the country, and Hitler proclaimed its
Anschluss
(union) with Germany, annexing it to the Third Reich.